Tender coconut water in tetra packs soon in Karnataka

April 14th, 2011 - 12:22 am ICT by IANS  

Bharatiya Janata Party Bellary, April 13 (IANS) Tender coconut water will soon be available in tetra packs in Karnataka, the country’s third largest coconut producer, a senior official said here Wednesday.

“Tender coconut water in tetra packs will remain fresh for 90 days and we will soon introduce the product in the state,” Karnataka Milk Federation chairperson and Bharatiya Janata Party legislator from Bellary G. Somashekara Reddy told reporters here.

“It will be sold under the brand name ‘Nandini’, the popular milk brand of KMF,” said Reddy, the youngest of the three Reddy brothers, mining barons from this iron-ore rich district.

The other two are Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy.

He said tender coconuts would be procured from the growers directly, processed at Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation Limited’s (KMF) cold storage centres at Bangalore, Kolar and other places and sold in tetra packs across the state.

Reddy said pricing and other details were being worked out.

KMF is the apex body of dairy farmers’ co-operatives and is the second largest dairy co-operative in the country. It sells milk and milk products under the Nandini brand.

Karnataka is India’s third largest coconut producer after Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It grows over 2,000 million coconuts a year, of which around 15 percent are consumed as tender coconut.

Tender coconut water is popular in the state through the year and particularly sought after during summer months.

“The water of tender coconut, technically the liquid endosperm, is the most nutritious wholesome beverage that the nature has provided for the people of the tropics to fight the sultry heat. It has caloric value of 17.4 per 100gm,” according to the Cononut Development Board.

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